Melampyrum. | LVI, SCROPHULARINER, 343 
the flowers very much smaller, of a deep yellow; the calycine teeth are 
more conspicuous, and the lower ones spreading, Corolla seldom above 4 
lines long. | 
A high northern and alpine plant, not unfrequent in the woods of 
northern Europe and Asia, and in the high mountain-ranges of central 
Europe, the Caucasus, and Altai. In Britain, apparently limited to 
Scotland, northern England and north-eastern Ireland, £71. summer. 
—— es 
LVII. LABIATA, THE LABIATE FAMILY. 
Herbs, or rarely shrubs, with quadrangular stems or branches, 
and leaves always opposite. Flowers in the axils of the upper 
leaves or bracts, rarely solitary in each axil, more frequently in 
cymes, often so closely clustered that the two opposite cymes 
appear like one whorl of 6, 10, or more flowers (sometimes 
called a verticillaster or false whorl), the whole forming usually 
a terminal compound spike, raceme, or panicle (more strictly 
termed a thyrsus). Besides the pair of floral leaves or bracts 
under the whorls, there are often smaller bracts to each flower 
in the whorl. Calyx 5-toothed, or rarely 2- or 3-lobed. Corolla 
with a distinct tube and a more or less irregular 4- or 5-lobed 
limb, usually forming two lips. Stamens 2, or 4 in 2 pairs, 
Ovary 4-lobed, with one erect ovule in each lobe, and a single 
style rising from the centre, and shortly cleft at the top into 2 
stigmatic lobes. Fruit enclosed in the persistent calyx, sepa- 
rating into 4 small, one-seeded and seed-like nuts, 
A vast family, spread ever every ‘quarter of the globe, and readily 
known from all Monopetals, except Boraginee, by the 4-lobed ovary and 
the four small nuts resembling naked seeds in the bottom of the calyx ; 
and from Boraginee the Labiate are distinguished by their opposite 
leaves, the want of the fifth stamen, and usually by the more irregular 
flowers. Most of the species have also a peculiar strong scent, either 
highly aromatic in many of our culinary potherbs, or as disagreeable in 
several species of Stachys. Distinct however as the whole family is, the 
genera into which it has been divided are much less so than could be wished. 
Those especially which are allied to Séachys are separated from it by slight 
differences in the shape of the calyx and corolla, which are not always easy 
to appreciate. 
Stamens, at least the longer ones, longer than the upper lip of the So Re 
"se in pairs, or 2 only, under the upper lip of the corolla . 2 
Stamens concealed within the tube of the corolla. ° . ° Mes 
Calyx regularly 5-toothed. Stamens always4 . 
Calyx distinctly 2-lipped, the upper teeth more or less united into an upper Ep, 
the 2 lower ones united or distinct. Stamens4or2 . . \ 
Calyx with 15 parallel ribs. Outer stamens the shortest ° a. NEGA 
soll with 5 or 10 principal ribs or veins. Outer stamens the longest . 4 
{ “oo leaves deeply divided. Upper lip of the corolla very hairy, almost 
4 
woolly . . 15, LEonuURUS. 
Lower leaves coarsely toothed. Upper lip of the corolla glabrous orhairy . 5 
